Phonograph records, and especially the current 12 inch long-play records, normally are packaged in a square jacket which consists of two sheets of thin cardboard in face-to-face relationship, with the edges on three sides bound to be closed, and with the fourth side open. This forms a protective jacket, while at the same time permitting the removal from and the replacement of the record in the jacket. In addition, the better quality records have a thin liner which forms a pocket for receiving the phonograph record and protecting the record grooves from debris which sloughs from the interior of the coarse cardboard.
It is extremely difficult to avoid the occasional and accidental dropping or otherwise damaging a record when removing it from the jacket. The jacket is itself of inconvenient size because it cannot be held in the usual manner for grasping and holding such an object; rather, the jacket must be steadied against the body with one hand, while the other hand reaches into the jacket to extract the record. Since a record should only be handled at the rim in order to avoid finger printing the playing surfaces or getting damaging corrosive perspiration in the playing grooves of the record, a careful user never has a firm grip on a record, especially when holding the record with one hand only. After the record is removed from the jacket to free the second hand for also handling the record, there is less danger of dropping the record; however, when grasping a record at the rim with one hand applying as little pressure as possible, it is very easy to drop a record. A record is easily ruined if it drops in such a manner that the playing surface of the record falls against a hard object and the record grooves are gouged or flattened by the object which was contacted.